Top 10 Steamy Romance Book Promotion Sites

This is part of the WriteZero Book Promotion Guide for Authors & Publishers. It covers the Top 10 Book Promotion Sites for Steamy Romance books

Top 10 Steamy Romance Book Promotion Sites

#1 BookBub

Bookbub is the largest book promotion site and the most effective. It also consistently gives you positive return on investment for the Featured Deal promotions

Please Note: For this post we will only discuss and consider the Bookbub Featured Deal promotion package. This does not cover Bookbub New Release promotions and this does not cover Bookbub Pay Per Click Ads

Bookbub Featured Deal Key Qualities and Aspects

1. Strengths
   1. Excellent Results
   2. The biggest promotion site with 15 million email subscribers (from a 2019 interview, their website still says 10 million) and 3.6 million Facebook Fans
      1. By far the biggest for email lists
      2. By far the biggest for Facebook
   3.  Genre Specific email lists
      1. When readers sign up for Bookbub they can check what genres they want books in
      2. Then they get a daily email with only books from the book genres they have selected
      3. Generally, to the best of our understanding, readers will pick between 3 to 7 genres
      4. So you are getting a very specific, tailored set of readers. Readers who have chosen to specifically get books in the categories they are interested in
   4. Bookbub has individual lists for the following Romance subgenres
      1. Contemporary Romance
      2. Historical Romance
      3. Paranormal Romance
      4. New Adult Romance
      5. American Historical Romance
      6. Romantic Suspense
      7. Time Travel Romance
      8. Dark Romance & Erotica
      9. Erotic Romance
   5. Very strong in all subgenres of romance, including Steamy Romance
2. Negatives
   1. Very low acceptance rate of 10% to 20%
      1. However, if you keep submitting, then provided your book is well polished, there is a good chance after 5 to 15 rejections they will finally accept it
      2. Easier to get accepted for the free book promotions
   2. In general, they will only take books up to a month before the actual promotion date you want
   3. In general, they will only take books with a decent number of reviews
   4. [Same as Point 1] If you’re a self published author, out of the 40 to 50 total spots each day in the Bookbub Featured Deal email newsletter, only 10 to 20 are from self published authors
      1. Within Romance, there are roughly 10 to 20 spots a day in the newsletter, of which roughly half go to self published authors
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
   1. Keep submitting. This is the most important
      1. Don’t take rejections personally and keep submitting
   2. Make sure your book is very polished
   3. Make sure you have reviews
   4. Make sure you follow the guidelines
      1. Submit the same book no more than once a month
      2. If accepted, then don’t submit the same book again for 6 months
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
   1. Where you can submit your book deal – Bookbub Submit a Deal
      1. First you’ll have to sign up to get an account
   2. Partners Overview (the section of their website for authors) – Bookbub Partners Overview
5. Pricing
   1. This is the Pricing Page for Bookbub Featured Deals
      1. Please Note: While these prices might seem high, in most cases you will make back the money you spend
      2. Additionally, Bookbub has the best Return on Investment of all book promotion sites. You might have to spend more, but you will usually earn back what you spend
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
   1. Very Strong. However, the higher you go the lower the sales
      1. Additionally, for self published authors the drop off is more drastic
      2. Free, $0.99 and $2.99 are the price points that will work for you if you are a self published author
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
   1. Incredibly strong. This is the sweet spot for Bookbub and for Bookbub Featured Deal
      1. If you set up your promotion right, it will usually take you to the Top 100 in all paid books
      2. To increase chances of hitting the Top 100 Paid Books. Also get promotion packages from the other top book promotion sites and arrange them right before your Bookbub Featured Deal
8. Strength for Free Promotions
   1. Incredibly strong. It will usually send you to the Top 20 in the Top 100 free books list
   2. Here also, if you like you can get promotion packages from other top book promotion sites and aim for the Top 5 spots
9. Strength for Full Price promotions
   1. They have a very small number of full price promotions, and it is rather recent
   2. In general, if you’re a self published author then Full Price promotions won’t work for you. You are free to still take a shot

We recommend Bookbub very strongly. If you can get Bookbub for your Steamy Romance novel, then it is a must. It’s the best option

#2 BooksButterfly

Disclosure: Books Butterfly is our Sister Company

Books Butterfly is the second largest book promotion site and one of the top choices for Romance and Steamy Romance book promotion

Books Butterfly Key Qualities and Aspects

1. Strengths
   1. Very strong results for well polished books
      1. Please Note: Unlike most of the other book promotion sites on this list, Books Butterfly is multiple books per genre per day. While 90% of the books hit the target, including the top 50% most polished books doing very well, the least polished 10% miss
      2. Basically, if your book is not polished with a professionally designed cover, and professional editing, you should not submit to Books Butterfly
   2. The second biggest book promotion site with 4 million readers. This includes 3.3 million readers on Apps, 321,000 readers on email lists, and 121,000 readers visiting the blogs and websites
      1. The second biggest promotion site
      2. By far the biggest promotion site for Apps with 3.3 million readers on apps
      3. Decent sized email list with 321,000 email subscribers
   3. Genre Specific Email Lists and Blogs and Websites and Apps
      1. Steamy Romance in particular has a dedicated email list and a dedicated blog and dedicated apps
      2. Books Butterfly has one or more of – a dedicated email list, a dedicated blog, a dedicated app – for each romance genre and subgenre
   4. Books Butterfly covers the following Romance sub genres
      1. Romance
      2. Steamy Romance
      3. Erotic Romance
      4. Paranormal Romance
      5. Fantasy Romance
      6. Shifter Romance
      7. Historical Romance
      8. Romantic Erotica
      9. BDSM
      10. Dark Romance
   5. Very strong in nearly all romance subgenres
      1. Exceptionally strong – Steamy Romance, Dark Romance, Shifter Romance, Contemporary Romance, Christian Romance, Clean Romance, Historical Romance
      2. Strong – BDSM Romance, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy Romance
      3. Medium Strength – Young Adult Romance, Romantic Erotica
      4. Weak – Erotica, New Adult Romance
   6. There is a guarantee on packages for $0 book promotions and $0.99 book promotions
      1. If you miss the target amount of sales/downloads, then you get store credit to re-run the book for no charge, so that you can get the remaining sales/downloads
2. Negatives
   1. Not very selective
      1. As opposed to many of the top 5 sites that have just 10% to 20% acceptance rates, BooksButterfly has a higher acceptance rate (varies day to day between 10% to 70%)
      2. This is a negative as readers have to do some of the ‘choosing and selecting’ themselves
   2. Mix of Ads and Curated Content
      1. As opposed to many of the sites that are 100% Ads, Books Butterfly is usually 30% to 40% Ads and the rest are curated content
      2. This is a negative for the author as you obviously would prefer to be in a situation where the readers sees nothing except your book
   3. Results depend on the amount of polish you have put into the book
      1. As there is more than one book per category, and as there is a mix of curated content and paid ads, it means readers choose and pick
      2. If you have the least polished book that day, then your book will miss
      3. If you’re in the bottom half, then it will do decently well provided you’re not in the bottom 10%
      4. If you’re in the top half of the books that day, your book will do very well
      5. If you have one of the best books that day, your book will do exceptionally well
      6. Basically, the more polish you have put into your book, the better it is a choice for Books Butterfly
         1. The higher the chance it will get accepted
         2. The higher the results
   4. Guarantee has certain conditions
      1. Guarantee only applies for books over 150 pages
         1. Please also note that Books Butterfly will usually not accept any book under 150 pages
      2. Guarantee only applies for $0.99 books if the book has never been free in the past
      3. Guarantee does not apply to books that have been run with Bookbub
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
   1. The 5 main criteria are
      1. Good Reviews. If you have no reviews then the bar for the other 4 categories becomes higher
      2. Professionally designed cover
      3. Professionally Edited
      4. Preference to Repeat Customers
      5. No misrepresentation to readers – Book Genre and Book Length should be clearly conveyed, absolutely no fake reviews, no miscategorization of book genres
   2. Don’t submit an unpolished book
   3. Be very, very clear and frank to readers about your book
      1. Put it in the right categories
      2. Be clear about length
      3. Don’t misrepresent anything
      4. Don’t have any fake reviews
      5. Don’t have reviews from friends or family
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
   1. Books Butterfly generally becomes your best option for Steamy Romance if you can’t get Bookbub
      1. There’s no other book promotion site that comes close in terms of size (other than Bookbub)
      2. Books Butterfly has a unique combination in Steamy Romance of having a dedicated email list, a dedicated blog, and dedicated apps
   2. If you do get Bookbub, then in general you don’t need any other book promotion site
      1. However, you can get Books Butterfly to stack it with Bookbub
      2. For $0.99 books it would mean taking you higher and a very good chance of hitting the Top 100 in the paid lists
      3.  For free books, Bookbub alone will take you to Top 20. Adding Books Butterfly gives you a realistic shot at Top 5 and even #1 if you are in Romance or one of the big book categories
   3. Books Butterfly will accept new books, even without reviews, if you are a Repeat Customer or can otherwise demonstrate a good history of high quality books
      1. This makes it perfect for new release promotions
      2. This also makes it a great choice when going for the large bestseller lists with a new book release
   4. Steamy Romance is a specific category at Books Butterfly
      1. It does not include Erotica
      2. It does not include books that are romance with one ‘curtains drawn’ sex scene
      3. It’s for steamy romance
   5. Books Butterfly will not accept – books under 150 pages, books with cheating (hero cheating on heroine), cliffhanger endings
5. Pricing
   1. Books Butterfly has different packages for each price point. Prices are listed at the bottom of each page
      1. This page lists the book promotion packages for $0.99 deals – $0.99 Book Ads at Books Butterfly
         1. If going for a Bestseller list then Bestseller Push 7 is the best option
         2. Platinum 100 is another good option
      2. This page lists the book promotion packages for over $1 books and paperbacks – Over $1 Book Ads at Books Butterfly
         1. All Month Push is the best option and also the most popular
         2. If going for a longer promotion then 3 Month Push and 1 Year Push are good options
      3. This page lists the book promotion packages for free books – Free Book Ads at Books Butterfly
         1. If going for Top 100 then Top 100 Push and Pure Pearl are the best options
         2. For smaller budgets, Pure Gold is the best option
      4. This page lists the book promotion packages for Box Sets – Box Set Ads at Books Butterfly
         1. If going for a Bestseller List then Box Set 300 is the best option
         2. Box Set 200 and Box Set 300 are the best options to promote box sets in general
         3. Please Note: It must be an actual Box Set with 3 or more books of full length combined into one box set
            1. Anything below 500 pages is not considered a box set
            2. Short story box sets are not accepted
            3. Multi Authors Box Sets are accepted
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
   1. Very strong for $2.99 book promotions
   2. Strong for over $1 book ads up to $5 for ebooks and up to $14 for paperbacks
   3. Results vary for over $1 books ads for ebooks priced over $5 and paperbacks priced over $14
      1. The higher you go over $5 the lower the sales
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
   1. Very strong for $0.99 book promotions
   2. Exceptionally strong for $0.99 box set promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
   1. Very strong for free book promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions
   1. Decently strong for full price book ads for ebooks
   2. Decently strong for full price book ads for paperbacks and hardcovers

Books Butterfly has focused a lot on Romance because it had a lot of Romance readers from 2008 to 2011 when the Kindle first took off, and it also has added an immense number of romance readers on Apps and Email Lists in 2011 to 2020. It’s always been a big category and a big earner and Books Butterfly has focused a lot on creating lots of options for Romance readers including dedicated websites and blogs, a dedicated email list, and dedicated apps for Steamy Romance

We recommend Books Butterfly strongly. It’s easily a Top 2 or Top 3 choice for nearly every romance genre. For Steamy Romance it’s firmly #2 in both reach (millions of readers) and results

Disclosure: Books Butterfly is our sister company

#3 – 2 way tie between eReader News Today and Robin Reads

There is very little to separate these two book promotion sites. Both are excellent choices, either alone, or to add on to your main book promotion with Bookbub or BooksButterfly

#3A – EReader News Today

EReader News Today is an excellent book promotion site that has been promoting books since 2010. It’s one of the largest book promotion sites and a Top 3 or Top 5 choice in nearly every book category

For Steamy Romance, please note that eReader News Today does not accept Erotica. We see their lists have some steamy and some mildly steamy books and no Erotic books. So you might want to check with them if your book meets their criteria

1. Strengths
   1. A very large book promotion site that is Top 5 in size and results
   2. Very good results
   3. Very Large on Facebook with 475,000 fans
   4. Very Large in Email with 200,000 email subscribers
2. Negatives
   1. There are very few negatives as this is a very large book promotion site, very trusted, and they offer very reasonable prices for their book promotion packages
   2. A few things that are more ‘things to keep in mind’ and not negatives
      1. Do not accept erotic books and mostly have ‘slightly’ steamy titles
      2. You must submit two weeks in advance of your desired date and no earlier than a month in advance
         1. We found this a bit peculiar as it gives a very narrow window of submitting between 2 to 4 weeks in advance of your desired promotion date
      3. Optimized for $0.99 book deals and free books
         1. To be fair, nearly all book promotion sites do better with $0.99 book deals and free books
      4. The Book of the Day feature (one of their best offerings) gets sold out months in advance
   3. Really, there are not any negatives. If you can get approved here, you should submit
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
   1. eReader News Today has a very good section on Requirements on the Book Submission Page at eReader News Today
   2. Requirements
      1. Available on Amazon
         1. They also promote at Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play, Apple iTunes, and Kobo
      2. Free or on sale
         1. Free, discounted to $0.99, always at $0.99
         2. They also promote $1.99 and $2.99 and $3.99 books. This is a more recent change so we don’t know very much about how they do with $2.99 and $3.99
      3. Full Length Books – at least 125 pages. Exceptions for non fiction, cookbooks, and children’s books
      4. Not promoted by eReader News Today in the last 90 days
   3. Factors taken into consideration
      1. The Cover – they say that books with professionally designed covers do much better with them
      2. Reader reviews – no minimum review requirement, however, reviews are considered
      3. Professionally edited
      4. How much the book is discounted. They do, however, also promote books that are regularly $0.99
      5. Content – they don’t promote erotica or books that have controversial content
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
   1. Book Submission Page for Free and Bargain Book Submissions
   2. Book Submission Page for Book of the Day Submissions
   3. Their contact email is bookpromos@ereadernewstoday.com
   4. They schedule book promotions up to 30 days in advance
   5. Promotion includes their website, their social media sites, and their daily newsletter
   6. If your book is not discounted by 6 am EST on the promotion day, it will not be included
   7. There are no refunds or rescheduling if you mess up the pricing
   8. Book must be discounted at Amazon to be promoted
   9. You must submit at least 2 weeks before its promotion date
   10. For rescheduling you need to let them know at least one week in advance
   11. Cancellation must be done at least one week before promotion date
5. Pricing
   1. The pricing is listed on their Book Submission Page
   2. This is very good pricing and eReader News Today has one of the best Returns on Investment of all book promotion sites
   3. The prices are also very approachable
      1. Contemporary Romance free book promotions are $45
      2. Contemporary Romance $0.99 promotions are $60
      3. Contemporary Romance $1.99 promotions are $75
      4. Contemporary Romance $2.99 promotions are $130
   4. For ‘Book of the Day’
      1. Price is $60 for books priced below $2.99
      2. Price is $160 for books priced above $2.99
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
   1. Unknown. This was recently introduced so we haven’t heard that much from authors
   2. Please note that EReaderNews says that best results are seen with $0.99 books
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
   1. Very strong. One of the Top 3 book promotion options in most book genres
8. Strength for Free Promotions
   1. Very strong. One of the Top 5 book promotion options in most book genres
9. Strength for Full Price promotions
   1. They do not promote at any price over $3.99, so Not Applicable

eReader News Today are a very good option for Romance. From their lists, slightly steamy romance seems fine. They do not take erotic books and we could not find any Dark romance or BDSM Romance so those may or may not be accepted. You can just email them, or you can submit your book and see if it gets accepted

#3B – Robin Reads

Robin Reads is a very good book promotion site and Top 5 in the book genres it promotes

We find RobinReads very interesting because it takes the Bookbub Model (very low acceptance rates to ensure results are very good; only 1 or 2 books per genre per day) to extremes

1.  Bookbub accepts only 10% to 20% of books for its Featured Deal (in the past it used to be 20% to 40%)
   1. Robin Reads takes less than 10%
2. Bookbub runs just 40 to 50 Featured Deals every day
   1. Robin Reads runs just 15 to 20 deals a day

What this means is that if you get accepted, your book is almost guaranteed to do well. A real winning situation for you

Well, let’s discuss RobinReads more, and from a Steamy Romance perspective

1. Strengths
   1. Large Size and Good Results
   2. 194,000 readers
   3. Very Selective – take less than 10% of the 100+ submissions they get each day
   4. Very reasonable prices
   5. They have a dedicated category for Steamy Romance
2. Negatives
   1. Only take 10% of the books they get
   2. Not really any other negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
   1. Please also read the Robin Reads Author Signup page and their FAQ for Authors page
   2. Price must be Free or $0.99
   3. Error Free
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
   1. Their Author FAQ page explains their selection criteria – the date you requested, the book cover, book description, reviews (quantity and quality), book genre, fit with their readers
   2. Discounting your book is your responsibility
      1. So make sure you have the book discounted well in advance of the book promotion date
   3. No preorders. However, you can submit a book before the ASIN is available
   4. They have a Premium Featured Slot which does not accept steamy romance
      1. One for Featured Free and One for Featured Paid
   5. For Steamy Romance you have to pick the regular Steamy Romance genre choice i.e.
      1. Steamy Romance Free Book package that goes to 68,202 email subscribers
         1. It’s sold out for 4 weeks in advance
      2. Steamy Romance Paid Book package that goes out to 68,202 email subscribers and costs $70
         1. It’s sold out for 2 weeks in advance
5. Pricing
   1. $75 for Steamy Romance Free Book packages
   2. $70 for Steamy Romance Paid Book packages
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
   1. Do not promote books over $0.99
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
   1. Very Strong
8. Strength for Free Promotions
   1. Very Strong
9. Strength for Full Price promotions
   1. Do not promote books over $0.99

We recommend RobinReads strongly. They are an excellent book promotion site. They are even more selective than Bookbub and if you get selected there is a very high chance your book will do well

Interlude

We are in the process of finishing up this list. We will add the #5 to #10 best promotion sites for steamy romance in the future

#5 BookSends

More Details coming soon

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

#6 Free Booksy and Bargain Booksy

More Details coming soon

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

#7 My Romance Reads

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

#8 – Coming Soon

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

#9 – Coming Soon

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

#10 – Coming Soon

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

 

Honorable Mentions – Top Steamy Romance Book Promotion Sites

Presented in no particular order

A – Genre Pulse

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

B – Book Gorilla & Kindle Nation Daily

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

C – Fussy Librarian

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

D – One Hundred Free Books

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

E – Buck Books

1. Strengths
2. Negatives
3. Things to do to Get Accepted
4. Key Things to Keep in Mind
5. Pricing
6. Strength for Over $1 promotions
7. Strength for $0.99 promotions
8. Strength for Free Promotions
9. Strength for Full Price promotions

Important Guidelines for Promoting Steamy Romance Books

These are the most common requirements

1. Professionally Edited
2. Professionally designed book cover
3. Good review rating
   1. Some book promotion sites will take your book without reviews, provided the editing and book cover are high quality
      1. Also helps if your other books have good reviews
4. Discounted, ideally to $0.99 or $0
   1. Most sites promote Free Books, $0.99 books, and $2.99 books
   2. Some sites promote books at higher prices
5. Submitting well in advance
   1. Lead times vary from a few days to a few weeks
      1. RobinReads has the longest wait times of 2 weeks to 4 weeks
      2. eReader News Today will only accept books at least 2 weeks in advance of your desired start date
6. It’s your responsibility to ensure the book is discounted during the promotion date/dates
   1. Please keep in mind that most promotion sites will not give you a make up slot if you mess up the pricing

Important Tips to Increase Your Chances of getting accepted into the Top Steamy Romance Book Promotion Sites

These are the criteria that are most important

1. No mistakes or typos or grammatical mistakes
   1. Definitely not anything in the first chapter
2. Well done cover
3. Reviews – good reviews, and the more the better
   1. If no reviews, then all other criteria must be met and surpassed with flying colors
4. Book must meet the site criteria
   1. Most book promotion sites have a minimum length requirement (usually 150 pages, though some will take over 100 pages)
5. Some promotion sites don’t take Erotic Romance but will take Steamy Romance

Steamy Romance Book Promotion Sites vs Facebook Ads

To be Added Later. Just a few quick notes at the moment

These two promotion methods can be used in conjunction

Book promotion sites are very good for launch boosts, for getting spikes, for breaking into bestseller lists

Facebook Ads are very good for getting consistent sales over a longer time period

You can stack these together and amplify the effect of each

Steamy Romance Book Promotion Sites vs Amazon Marketing Services

Amazon Marketing Services will work for 50% of authors and won’t work for the other 50% of authors

For authors for whom Amazon Marketing Services work

1. It’s good to use Book promotion sites to give your books a jump in the rankings
2. Then after that switch over to using Amazon Marketing Services

Amazon Marketing Services are a bit different from Facebook Ads in that they are hard to make consistent and for some authors (50%) AMS won’t work